Hopefully Apple will give us more information on the Canadian iPad2 launch soon. Not sure how it is in the other countries, but we don't have a price yet, or any other information. I was at an Apple reseller today and they didn't know how many units they were getting, what the prices would be, or even when on the 25th they can sell them (opening, 5pm...?). I'm expecting a $20-30 increase over the US prices (even though the Canadian $ is higher than US $ right now), but I'd still like to know all the details.

Artificial supply shortage to drive demand - lineups and mass impulse buying expedited.
How do you drive a market to covet your product - tell them it's in limited supply.
This tactic is routine in a lot of business. People want what they can't have.

This is nonsense. Some companies need to do this to build hype (HP with its 5000 Windows 7 tablets), but when you have a sellout of over half a million devices (more than the rest of the industry has probably sold combined, over 2 years), then its really really unlikely to be artificial demand.

In fact, if you look at Apple's guidances with regards to the original iPad, they clearly stated that revenues would be constrained because of supply not meeting demand. If you look at all analyst reports from last year, they clearly agreed that Apple lost money waiting to be given out to them because the iPhone 4 and iPad supply could not match demand.

I find it hilarious that the same people who said that the iPad would not sell, and would flop, think Apple deliberately did not anticipate that it would be the biggest selling new type of product in history.

Well, if (a big "if") Apple is building up stock for the international launches (and does not delay them), this could indirectly support Gruber's sources indicating an iPad 3 in late 2011. If they plan for a relatively short lifecycle, then the rollout must be fast by all means. Otherwise they will end up with some countries still selling the iPad "1" (e.g. those that did just receive it in February 2011), when iPad 3 launches in the US.

And if not (and international launches will be delayed), than there is reason to believe that the amount of online orders in the US must have been above and beyond all expectations. Going from 2-3 days to 4-5 weeks delivery times in half a week, without stocking a respectable amount of the produced devices could otherwise only be explained by production problems so severe, that they would certainly have been leaked by now.

give me an effing break. Here we go with perception used to screw with the stock.
Look, ipad 2 is a hit. I held it in my hand today at the Apple store right across the street from my house. It is awesome. But those who want it will get it. Wait!!!!!
Hell, why is it a bummer if you can't get it right right now?

Not a problem. Potential buyers might be disappointed, even pissed, but they will NOT go out and buy a Xoom or Galaxy Tab out of spite and desperation. It just won't happen.

They should continue with the international launch as planned, but don't give the foreigners too many iPads. Make them wait in long lines, just like everybody else has to do here in the US.

Apple ][ well... those in America are foreigners as far as the iPad 2 is concerned. Since it's put together in Asia somewhere.

People in Australia certainly stood in long lines for the iPhone 4, it will be the same again.

If the International launch WAS delayed, more people would be lining up in the US for your iPads!

Also, Mr White should use some logic. Last year Apple was surprised by the demand for iPad. They are not going to make the same mistake twice and have egg on their face by delaying another international launch.

so it took the factory all weekend until 10 am in the morning to build? , engrave, prep, and package it, it missed the cutoff time at Fedex facility in Shenzhen on Monday (dammit) so left the next day Tuesday at 2:40pm

According to Fedex it should be delivered to me in San Ramon, Ca on Friday.

It is interesting that the cutoff time is 3 o'clock in afternoon in SHENZHEN China at the Fedex depot. It gets flown to LANTAU ISLAND HK then Anchorage, clears customs and then on towards the lower States, Oakland->Pleasanton. It took 3 days once in FedEx hands to get all the way for other parts of my order

all time are PST

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dunks

This is what I assumed to be the case when the US shipping dates for the online orders slipped within hours.

Apple Australia are advertising that they will have them available for "preorder" online which I guess will give a few days notice next week if that's the case.

Originally by Rickers - 2014 : Cook & will bury Apple. They can only ride Steve's ghost so long.

History reduce Apple Watch.... to a footnote in the annals of technology - Benjamin Frost Dec 2014

Having to wait is one thing, having people line up for hours to be disappointed is another. No doubt, the iPad is a hit and it will sell millions. I just worry about the Apple brand. My belief (and I know many don't agree) is that in small doses these shortages drive excitement, but if they are too frequent I worry about engendering resentment. People (at least in America) want to root for the underdog but all too often they like to see the big guy brought low.

Apple isn't the little guy anymore!

I concur with your thinking. They have terribly mismanaged expectations (even at the store level, where they can't tell people there's no use waiting....)...

Ok, I get that Apple end everyone likes / expects there to be long lines at the retails stores on launch day, but I really wish they had gone with the "pre-order" option (with in store pick up) like they did last year with the iPhone 4.

This would identify which stores need the most stock (in which countries as well) and reduce the amount of disappointment all round.

Granted they did lose their website for a short while when they did this, but it would probably be the best experience for everyone.

- - -

Also why aren't they allowing a "reserve" option in store. Then calling the next person on the list when there iPad is in the store and ready to be collected. Even if it only stays reserved for 1 day, and goes open to anybody the next.

I think it's more annoying that the guys in Cupertino aren't saying ANYTHING about the stock issues and leaving it to the guys are the stores.

as folks from other countries buy up stock when they travel to the USA, or have relatives doing the same for them. More profitable for Apple to sell at the higher uplifts abroad i'd guess.

No news on UK availability, but suspect we'll be made to queue at the retail stores to get an early unit. In the meantime, the price of the current model has dropped £100-£120 on the Apple Online store here, so I guess there's still stock to get rid of (and some new users happy to buy the old model at that price point).

The next game is to guess which store to queue at on the day... for maximum chance of walking away with the desired model. 16GB 3G Black for me...

Am I the only one who believes this product shortage reflects badly on Tim Cook, the Apple COO?
How many consecutive Apple product launches have involved shortages? That's revenue not collected. Why do they consistently under-produce?

There are two misconceptions I've seen posted here. One is this one, the other is that it was intentional to drive artificial demand. Both are false.

Apple was producing the iPad at maximum capacity from day one. It stopped producing the original iPad as soon as the holidays were over and they could start producing the iPad 2. Production takes time and supply of many of the components is constrained.

You reach a point where producing more ends up driving up the cost per unit. That's why Apple couldn't just keep upping up the capacity when they say demand increasing for the iPad. They did up capacity, but only as much as they could without driving up the cost per unit in a very significant way.

As for the other misconception...

No, you don't want do restrict supply. What you want to do is create the illusion of there being more demand and perhaps not enough supply, while still selling to every customer that wants one. This is the exact opposite of what Apple did. Apple could've restricted sales to only the Apple stores, instead they had it spread out to 10,000 retail locations.

Really the only option Apple had here was to drive the cost up and cut into their margins and/or greatly reduce demand due to retail price, wait to release the product later, or release the product now and blow away their competition.

you worry too much! perhaps you should get away from your mother and get out a bit?

Originally Posted by Bageljoey
Having to wait is one thing, having people line up for hours to be disappointed is another. No doubt, the iPad is a hit and it will sell millions. I just worry about the Apple brand. My belief (and I know many don't agree) is that in small doses these shortages drive excitement, but if they are too frequent I worry about engendering resentment. People (at least in America) want to root for the underdog but all too often they like to see the big guy brought low.

Apple isn't the little guy anymore!

Originally by Rickers - 2014 : Cook & will bury Apple. They can only ride Steve's ghost so long.

History reduce Apple Watch.... to a footnote in the annals of technology - Benjamin Frost Dec 2014

as folks from other countries buy up stock when they travel to the USA, or have relatives doing the same for them. More profitable for Apple to sell at the higher uplifts abroad i'd guess.

I thought there was a maximum of 2 per person (based on the credit / debit card used) but it seems that this was overlooked as I've read reports of people buying six!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ian.Waring

No news on UK availability, but suspect we'll be made to queue at the retail stores to get an early unit. In the meantime, the price of the current model has dropped £100-£120 on the Apple Online store here, so I guess there's still stock to get rid of (and some new users happy to buy the old model at that price point).

I would expect the same prices as iPad 1. This is how Steve announced the iPad 2 so I can't see them changing it around the world.

Not a problem. Potential buyers might be disappointed, even pissed, but they will NOT go out and buy a Xoom or Galaxy Tab out of spite and desperation. It just won't happen.

On this account, I agree. There is no credible competition in the full service consumer tablet arena (much to the consternation of the fandroids!). None! This is surprising, shocking and, one can only assume, bound to change at some point.

My theory is that Apple had some production snags in the ramp-up but kept the launch on schedule because they had to assume real competition was coming. If they had known that Honeycomb would seem half baked and that the Xoom would be over-priced and uninspired, maybe they could have allowed themselves to build out a few million to deal with launch insanity...

Keep in mind that analysts are trained to ask questions, generally based on data.

But what they can't do is predict the future with a high level of accuracy because there are many variables which are themselves hard to predict with accuracy. The same is true for Apple ... they can make good guesses at how popular a new model will be, and even if they are very accurate, it still requires manufacturers ability to deliver.

But I have to tell you ... some if not many analysts questions are meaningless in the big picture, and this is one those cases.

you worry too much! perhaps you should get away from your mother and get out a bit?

Way to go personal, pops! I'm curious, what did I say to spark such a response?
In no way am I a troll. Nor am I freaking out. Following Apple is one of my hobbies and I do have a moderate stake in their stock performance, so I join the discussions on these boards to celebrate when things go well and to express concern when I think it is warranted. I don't come here to put people down (or be put down) on such a flimsy pretext...

I did own a box of 5 1/4" floppy disks which I used on that machine. I think that they were Verbatim.

I still use 5.25" floppies. One of my samplers (an E-Mu SP-12 Turbo) uses a Commodore 1541II disk drive for loading and saving.

Apple ][c, or ][gs would be a more logical evolution given that the /// was a dud. I was a Commodore user back in the day, but spent every minute I could using Apples at school and a local library. I used to write programs in BASIC that switched to the Apple ][e's color scheme, simulated a boot time, and then had a basic interpreter that would turn commands like LOAD "$",8 into CATALOG. I had an imaginary company whose offices were in a tree in my back yard called "Apple Upgrade" whose sole purpose was creating software that ran Apple ][ programs on different platforms. That was long before I knew what an emulator was.

That was when I wasn't drawing mock up designs for video game systems with cartridge inputs for every console or hi-fi equipment I wished I could own.

Proudest Apple ][ moment might have been a day that a substitute was in our computer class. We had a typing program written in BASIC and you could just send an interrupt and modify the code. I changed it so that you only had to hit one button to move to the next letter and increase your score, added an intro that said, "This game sucks," and then saved it to the disk.

Artificial supply shortage to drive demand - lineups and mass impulse buying expedited.
How do you drive a market to covet your product - tell them it's in limited supply.
This tactic is routine in a lot of business. People want what they can't have.

Nowhere is this practiced more then in the tech industry.
Also a great way to determine and monitor market demand.

Could this be the case here? The timing of the international release is interesting. It's different from their iPhone strategy, but that may be because of carriers.

It is not an issue with artificial supply. Walked by the New York Store hoping they had them in stock. The staff was telling everyone that they were going to begin selling iPad's again at 9:30. Unfortunately, there were already over 500 people in line and I had an appt at 11. The line went from 5th to Madison, then from 58th to 59th on madison and then was extending back upon 59th to 5th. Unfortunately, at least half the line seemed to be people paid to stand in line to buy ipads for shipment overseas.

Perhaps Xoom, Playbook and Galaxy sales departments should try that, it might help . Apple on the other hand really sells everything they can make. Hard to take for Apple haters I know, my heart goes out to them.

Somehow Microsoft managed to sell 10 million Kinects without any lineups.

On this account, I agree. There is no credible competition in the full service consumer tablet arena (much to the consternation of the fandroids!). None! This is surprising, shocking and, one can only assume, bound to change at some point.

My theory is that Apple had some production snags in the ramp-up but kept the launch on schedule because they had to assume real competition was coming. If they had known that Honeycomb would seem half baked and that the Xoom would be over-priced and uninspired, maybe they could have allowed themselves to build out a few million to deal with launch insanity...

No doubt they hit production snags as it was rumored on this site about a month about production issues but I don't believe a company with the stature of Apple are clueless about their competition.

Many geeks clued that are clued in on the tech world know that Honeycomb is half-baked and overpriced for awhile now.

This is nonsense. Some companies need to do this to build hype (HP with its 5000 Windows 7 tablets), but when you have a sellout of over half a million devices (more than the rest of the industry has probably sold combined, over 2 years), then its really really unlikely to be artificial demand.

In fact, if you look at Apple's guidances with regards to the original iPad, they clearly stated that revenues would be constrained because of supply not meeting demand. If you look at all analyst reports from last year, they clearly agreed that Apple lost money waiting to be given out to them because the iPhone 4 and iPad supply could not match demand.

I find it hilarious that the same people who said that the iPad would not sell, and would flop, think Apple deliberately did not anticipate that it would be the biggest selling new type of product in history.

Tell him and make it clear to him. I didn't understand his reasoning either.

so it took the factory all weekend until 10 am in the morning to build? , engrave, prep, and package it, it missed the cutoff time at Fedex facility in Shenzhen on Monday (dammit) so left the next day Tuesday at 2:40pm

According to Fedex it should be delivered to me in San Ramon, Ca on Friday.

It is interesting that the cutoff time is 3 o'clock in afternoon in SHENZHEN China at the Fedex depot. It gets flown to LANTAU ISLAND HK then Anchorage, clears customs and then on towards the lower States, Oakland->Pleasanton. It took 3 days once in FedEx hands to get all the way for other parts of my order

New shipments of the iPad 2 to some Apple stores around the country on Tuesday immediately sold out, raising questions for one analyst about how much inventory Apple will have available for next week's international launch.

Anyone who knows Apple knows there's inventory available to do the initial launch.

The bigger (and real) question is "Then what?"

With the major disaster still unfolding in Japan, along with backorder times in the US alone at 4-5 weeks, it makes a person wonder what things will be going forward.

You don't really believe this, do you? Maybe Apple paid all those people to line up to create an impression of huge demand? I think you need to put your tin foil hat away and go and try an iPad 2. The demand is driven by its awesomeness. Apple can sell as many as they can produce. The shortage is a byproduct of Apple's success with the iPad. I doubt if the shortage plays into Apple's hands here, though in some cases I am sure you are right. Its a risky strategy, however.

If everyone who wanted an iPad 2 had one today... the buzz would be over. No lineups, no curiosity, no clamor, no hype, no press releases or articles about lack of demand.
This move (if it was a move) will ensure that there will be a feverish race to get an iPad in other countries as well - ensuring that the iPad 2 is the most sought after gadget in the world.
You can't buy this type of marketing, just ask Microsoft.

I'm not saying it is so - but I wouldn't put this kind of strategic marketing past Apple.
As long as there is demand - there is free marketing.

Apple is lightly dusting the world with the new iPad - instead of satisfying demand market by market (which they did with the original iPhone).

so it took the factory all weekend until 10 am in the morning to build? , engrave, prep, and package it, it missed the cutoff time at Fedex facility in Shenzhen on Monday (dammit) so left the next day Tuesday at 2:40pm

According to Fedex it should be delivered to me in San Ramon, Ca on Friday.

It is interesting that the cutoff time is 3 o'clock in afternoon in SHENZHEN China at the Fedex depot. It gets flown to LANTAU ISLAND HK then Anchorage, clears customs and then on towards the lower States, Oakland->Pleasanton. It took 3 days once in FedEx hands to get all the way for other parts of my order

all time are PST

[/QUOTE]

I got mine delivered to San Mateo, CA. Ordered 64g black wifi only on Friday morning at 1:01am PT. Mine was delivered two days early!

If everyone who wanted an iPad 2 had one today... the buzz would be over. No lineups, no curiosity, no clamor, no hype, no press releases or articles about lack of demand.
This move (if it was a move) will ensure that there will be a feverish race to get an iPad in other countries as well - ensuring that the iPad 2 is the most sought after gadget in the world.
You can't buy this type of marketing, just ask Microsoft.

I'm not saying it is so - but I wouldn't put this kind of strategic marketing past Apple.
As long as there is demand - there is free marketing.

Apple is lightly dusting the world with the new iPad - instead of satisfying demand market by market (which they did with the original iPhone).

I find it curious.

the ipad2 sold a very large amount.maybe 1 mill
maybe 2 mill w/back orders.
the kindle sold under 200,000. in 4 months

and 8 weeks now to get one now .

i feel that apple's great products cause the whole media show
and the ipad1 was the fastest sell out in the history of the tech world

Artificial supply shortage to drive demand - lineups and mass impulse buying expedited.
How do you drive a market to covet your product - tell them it's in limited supply.
This tactic is routine in a lot of business. People want what they can't have.

Nowhere is this practiced more then in the tech industry.
Also a great way to determine and monitor market demand.

Could this be the case here? The timing of the international release is interesting. It's different from their iPhone strategy, but that may be because of carriers.

Funny this does not happen to any other device. Xoom is available anywhere it is sold and the same unit has been on the shelf since it was delivered. I went in twice to look at it and the serial number is the same. They have 25 in stock this week and that is the same number they told me two weeks ago.

An international launch helps Americans get their products quicker too because it removes the market for professional scalpers.

This is true. I think they stock pile some for the internal launch and some of those ipads have probably already been delivered or on there way. Too late to back out.

And you really need to be one hell of an Apple haters to think they are making out the shortage on purpose. Look at the numbers, look at the 4 to 5 weeks week shipping delays, its obvious they just cant keep up. In fact its in Apple best interest to flood the market with ipads before the competition starts selling there devices.